Skip to main content

The Power of Thinking Small

Since half the purpose of this blog is to help you save money, you should get into the habit of thinking small. What I mean by this is you should learn to think like a smaller person by eating less and max out your savings by spending less on smaller portions. In your mind, you should already be visualizing and thinking about yourself at your target weight. A svelte guy like you doesn't need to eat that much food!

We've already had a discussion on beer, but it is really something that you should get used to limiting to special occasions and in limited quantities. It's just too calorie rich and unfilling to fit it into your daily budget, but if you can make one or two work here and there, more power to you. Obviously, you'll have room for a little more in your calorie budget once you reach and are maintaining your target weight. This goes for any alcoholic drinks.

Where I'm going with this is that I'd recommend shrinking your dining-out bill by eliminating alcohol from your tab, like I have. If you're going to enjoy a drink here and there, try to do it socially at someone's house where you're not paying $5-$10 per drink or more. If anyone asks, you can save face by saying you're on a diet - it looks a lot better than telling them you're on a diet AND a cheapskate. After you leave the restaurant, think about how you just paid yourself $10-$20 lose weight. You'll have also eliminated a key reason to pay for a cab or an Uber instead of driving - even more savings. Well done, my man.

Also, if you're going to eat out, try looking at some of the cheaper menu items. It's not always the case, but a lot of the time they tend to be lower calorie because the portions are smaller. Maybe look at ordering a small appetizer or two or something off the dollar menu at your favorite fast food restaurant. If you're still hungry, you can supplement it with something later. You're much more likely to overeat if you're served a large dish that cost a lot of money.

Also, if you spend a lot of time driving or traveling, buy - or ideally make - some healthy snacks that you keep with you so you're not tempted to pull over and buy more expensive food on the go. I usually keep a small 180-200 calorie bag of almonds or walnuts with me, just in case. This way it'll help hold down your hunger and keep you from overeating later.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Second Look at Exercise

I'll be a first time dad in the next week or two, and I'm already dealing with the time crunch and cheapo routine disruptive life events. Being a cheapo means improvising, so sometimes you need to rethink methodologies to adapt to changing circumstances. My 9 month pregnant wife has been joining me on my dog walks in order to get some exercise herself, and she can't go as far as I can for as far along as she is. Also, she has a hankering for dining out more often than we normally do, so it adds a little more guesswork to my calorie estimates when my margins are already running pretty thin. Add in doctors appointments, chores and other prep tasks, and a lot of my extra time for walking is just vanishing. It's only going to get harder once this baby gets here. It's my fault for allowing my weight to run away from me such that I'm in a position now to where I'm trying to lose a lot of weight quickly before the baby arrives. I'm losing weight steadily...
Post a Comment
Read more

Weekly Updates (2/9/2018)

Week one of BUD/S training is going OK. I can do everything but all the sit-ups (and of course the swimming, due to the lack of pool). The best I could bang out with sit-ups were 2 sets of 20, 1 of 15 and 1 of 10. But, at least I haven't experienced any soreness yet. Just the little bit of additional activity has me losing even slightly more weight. I'm holding my weight under the 40 pound loss benchmark on the scale every day now, and I'm feeling really good. I've almost forgotten how much I enjoyed running, which I'm sure has a lot to do with how much less of a strain it is on my body. I'm not going to lie - it was nothing short of exhilarating holding down the weight button on the treadmill for as long as it took to reduce the weight setting from 198 to 157- my weight from the last time I set it. It was definitely a bizarre experience. After the PowerWatch bust, I decided to try out another activity tracker watch. So, I ordered a Garmin Fenix 5X. It's...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mechanics

Ok, now that you've read through the high level stuff, let's get down to brass tacks: The reality is, you're going to want to make some changes to your daily routine, but how much you do depends on how much you want to lose and how quickly you want to lose it. There's nothing wrong with going at a slower pace, but I would just advise that you adjust your diet enough that you're seeing enough consistent enough gains that you stick with it. Remember, as long as you're still logging food, odds are you're still losing weight. I've already mentioned that you'll need a pedometer or fitness tracker. That needs to become a permanent extension of your body. You don't need to be a gym rat (in fact, you should have already cancelled your gym membership by now), but it's hard to be completely sedentary and still run calorie deficits. Or, put another way, a little bit of activity will give you a lot more wiggle room in your diet every day. A 10,000...
Post a Comment
Read more